Temple Street Children’s Hospital

Temple Street Children's University Hospital has claimed that a shocking 842 children who were attending its Emergency Department in 2018 were living in emergency accomodation, or didn't have a fixed address.

This means that there has been a 29 percent increase in the amount of patients who are being discharged into homelessness in Dublin, and one-quarter of the children were under one year old.

In 2017, the number of children discharged from ED who had no fixed address was 651.

The majority children last year presented with medical ailments such as chest infections, seizures, asthma, high temperatures and vomiting.

On the other side, 23 percent of children presented with trauma such as head lacerations, burns, self-harm and hand and arm injuries.

In the final three months of 2018 alone, 260 children attended Temple Street's Emergency Department without a fixed address.

Head Medical Social Worker at Temple Street, Anne-Marie Jones commented on the situation, condemning it as "shameful";

She said: "When these children leave our ED, they stay in temporary accommodation with cramped conditions and no appropriate cooking, washing or play facilities."

She added; "This results in accidents or traumas that wouldn’t normally happen if these families were housed in a family home.”

This yuletide season, two (or should that be three?) of our favourite festive stables are FINALLY joining forces: yes, step forward The Late Late Toyshow AND the Christmas jumper – as released by Penneys, no less.

Ho, ho, ho!

Toyshow jumpers: women's [left] and men's [right], both €20

After all, little could get us in the mood for seasonal festivities more than a brightly-coloured geansaí, sourced from our favourite affordable store, along with the airing of a certain live television classic.

Available in chic grey shade and classic navy shades and featuring an adorable Christmasy owl surround by snow, the €20 tops also feature The Late Late Toyshow logo.

Kids jumpers, €15

Along with a stash of fabulously comfy loungewear [priced from €14], and cute kids' items [priced from €10], the attire hits Penneys nationwide this month… all in time for the Ryan Tubridy spectacle, which this year airs on RTE on November 27.

Girls and boys PJs, €10

Better still, with €2 from every purchase going to the Temple Street Foundation, there is really no excuse (we didn't need one, mind) not to get your hands on these festive treats.

Women's lounge set, €14
Men's longe top and bottoms, €15 for the set

To celebrate the launch of the collection, home-grown boyband Hometown earlier visited the children’s hospital to spread some music and Christmas cheer.

Speaking about the collaboration, CEO of The Temple Street Foundation, Denise Fitzgerald, confirmed: “The Toyshow is a beloved national institution and many of our little patients will be watching from their hospital beds on November 27.”

For the last 12 months, a mom from Bray has been training hard in the run up to a 24 hour challenge in aid of Cystic Fibrosis.

Keiva will complete just over a marathon distance (26.8 miles) climb of 12,000 on the day, starting at 11am and continuing on the hour, every hour for 24 hours.

She writes:

“I’m a Bray mum. I have being training hard over the past year and have set myself the goal to raise money for the CF unit in Temple Street Children’s Hospital.”

On her Facebook page she gives regular updates of her training with her training partner, Kerry the dog. Over a year ago she made the decision to step out of the gym and since then has never looked back. She started off climbing Bray Head once a day, then it increased to twice a day.

She has never intended on taking on such a huge challenge but the mom of four realised whn she could do five consecutive climbs, she could use it as a platform to raise money for charity.

Speaking to the Independent Keiva said:

“It’s the best thing I ever did. I never appreciated what I had on the doorstep before.”

It was her friend’s son Zack who inspired the challenge. Zack is 10 years old and due to his Cystic Fibrosis has to go to the hospital four or even five times a year. The cause was clearly close to her heart and Keiva decided that she could so something to help.

At this point Keiva says she can ascend and descend Bray Head in about 18 minutes, on the day she will probably slow down to 30 minutes in order to pace herself through the night.